


Ties that Bind

by Sickdaisy



Category: HZD - Fandom, Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: But smut, F/F, F/M, Language, M/M, Shameless Smut, Slow Burn, Violence, smut smut smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-01-16 20:39:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12350271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sickdaisy/pseuds/Sickdaisy
Summary: One year after the battle of the Spire, Aloy learns she wasn't the first attempt by Gaia to stop Hades.  Someone else came out of the Cradle Facility.  Aloy begins to search for this person, for answers, and maybe some familial connection she never had.*************Sorry guys.  I promise this story isn’t dead!  I am in the midst of moving and school and it’s been so crazy.  I haven’t had time.  I promise that a chapter will come up soon!





	1. Storm's Coming

Chapter One

Amos looked into the dark sky soberly, knowing that she and the others should find shelter before the storm ripped them a new one. The problem was that they were in the middle of the fucking desert. Amos cursed under her breath as she turned to her group of mercenaries that she led. 

They were oblivious to the ominous sky ahead of them. Daeg, her second, was wrestling Ivan to the ground playfully while Hesha was trying to scold them for horse playing. Amos frowned at the scene and coughed loudly. Daeg snapped to attention and smiled at Amos. 

“If you frown any harder Amos, you’ll add another wrinkle to that already crowded forehead of yours”, Daeg jabbed playfully. Amos grimaced, knowing that it was true. She was the more serious of the four. Grant it, she could be pretty laid back, but this was important. 

“Amos, how are we supposed to marry you off to a nice man if you look ten years older than you are”, Hesha scolded. That got a chuckle out of Amos. “Hesh, I could look fifty and get more dick than you, you old crow,” Amos retorted. Hesha was about twenty years older than Amos, Daeg, and Ivan; she was considered the “mom” of the group. Amos was only twenty-five, and what Hesha said wasn't true. Amos had trouble getting into certain pubs due to her appearance. It wasn't that she looked young. Her face was fine and fair, with a sharp nose and high cheekbones. She had large eyes that were blue-grey, like the sea after a storm. Her hair was a dark auburn that looked golden red when the sun shone and her skin was tan due to years of taking jobs around the sundom. She was petite only standing about five foot one. She was lean but muscular due to years of training to fight and hunting machines twice her size. She was also notorious around villages for picking fights with men twice her size when they felt the need to grab at her. 

“I don't know if you noticed, but there is a storm heading from the east that is about to smack us off the face of the earth if we don't find a cave or some shit”, Amos warned. Daeg looked up and shot her a look that told her that they needed to move now. Amos and Daeg were the more observant of the four, growing up in the Nora tribe. They knew to look for signs of nature, the slightest changes in weather and movements from animals. Their eyes were trained to be like hawks, and it kept the group alert and agile. Hesha was Oseram and a well-adept healer. Ivan was from Meridian and his knowledge of the ins and outs of the Sundom help the group find jobs. Not to mention he was a ridiculous swordsman. Theatrical but dangerous. 

“There is a cave about 100 paces west. We should reach it in time for the storm if we hustle”, Ivan said. 

“Well let's run like hell then”, Amos yelled, already turning to book it like no one’s business. This storm was going to be bad, and she didn't feel like getting caught in it. 

 

……………………………………………..

Aloy shivered for a moment in the crisp air. It was fall in the Sacred Lands, and boy, could she tell. She was hunting for turkey and boar, only because she wanted to get a moment alone for once. Since she came back to the Embrace to help rebuild, she never could get a moments peace. Every one from Mother’s Watch all the way from Mother’s Heart wanted to be in the presence of the “Anointed One”. It was nauseating. To think that these people once thought her to be nothing more than dung to a revered human being wasn't just annoying; it was ridiculous. 

The only people keeping her here rebuilding was Teb and Varl. Sona was alright once people could get past her icy exterior, and Teersa was like a kindly grandmother to Aloy, but she couldn't actually talk to them. Teb was like a brother to Aloy, and she told him all of her secrets and fear, and Varl, well, he snuck up on her. 

Varl wasn't what she thought he was. It annoyed her at first of how ingrained he was into the tribe’s ideologies and religion, but as she got to know him, she realized how much of a rule breaker he was. It surprised her. It really shouldn't have, considering he disobeyed his own mother and war chief and left his post to kill the eclipse soldiers that murdered his sister, Vala. Varl turned out to be a little more laid back than the original first impression that she was given a year and a half ago. Aloy didn't like how much he grew on her. 

Aloy was so lost in thought, she was unaware of someone sneaking up behind her until the last second. Her reflexes took hold, and she notched her arrow and aimed at the approaching figure. 

“Easy, Aloy. It's just me!” 

“Varl?! Don't you know better than to sneak up on a hunter?” Aloy shouted at Varl. His figure was becoming clear in the foggy woods, walking towards Aloy with a smile on his face. Aloy couldn't tell if her stomach was turning due to the potential scare or the fact that it was Varl. She hated this. 

“I had to check up on you. The rest of the Nora were getting worried that the Anointed was killed by a machine”, Varl joked. 

“Wait, has it been that long since I snuck out here?” 

Aloy looked up at the sky, and by the her observations, it was late afternoon. She sighed. The fog had fooled her into thinking it was mid-morning still. So much for getting things done. 

“I'm joking. Sona saw you sitting out here while she was running a brave trail herself. She thought something was on your mind”, said Varl. 

“So she sent you here to check on me?”

“Yeah, and I also wanted to spend some time with you without others breathing down your neck in order to get close to you.” 

Varl winked at her, and her heart skipped. Yep, it was the fact that Varl was here that was giving her butterflies. 

“Well”, Aloy said with a sly smile, “We still have a lot of hunting to do. Can you keep up?”

…………………

Amos dived into the cave. She had been trying to beat the storm, and Daeg made it into a competition of course. Daeg dove in after her, tackling her to the ground. 

“Get the fuck off me, you brute” Amos shouted, smacking Daeg multiple times to make him roll off of her. 

Daeg winced and laughed at her, pinching her side and making her flinch. Daeg really was a brute, standing at six foot five, much taller than most Nora men. It didn't make him the best at stealth, but he made up for that in strength and dexterity. He was a handsome man, with long blond hair shaved into a Mohawk and braided behind him and piercing blue eyes. Any woman fell for him on sight, and Amos didn't blame them. He was charming and kind. Too bad women were not his flavor. 

Amos and Daeg stood up and observed their surroundings. 

“Uh, Daeg. Remind me to kill Ivan when he and Hesh gets in here”, Amos stated, “This isn't a cave. It's a fucking cauldron .” 

Ivan and Hesha fell in the cauldron not a moment later. Ivan swept himself off and looked at Amos sheepishly. 

“Oops.” He shrugged. Daeg laughed. Hesha smacked Daeg. 

“Oops? OOOPS?! Oops is what you say when you trip over shit, Ivan” Amos chastised, “ Oops is when you eat the last slice of pie. This is you fucked up.”

“It isn't that bad. We could scrounge and delve. We might find something interesting.”

“I hope we don't find anything interesting like a Thunderjaw.”

Amos looked at her friends and looked down at the path leading to the cauldron core. She sighed. This was a bad idea. 

“We have to wait out this storm. We might as well see what's down there. Maybe artifacts we could sell for supplies,” said Amos. 

“Let’s do it” , said Daeg enthusiastically. 

Amos looked at the inside of the cauldron and shook her head, took a breath, and started leading the way in.


	2. Grave Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll have to bear with me, I'm building plot. This is going to be an episodic novel like fic.

Chapter 2. 

Amos dove into the cauldron with determination. She would be considered a courageous woman, but she did her best to avoid cauldrons. Metal ruins didn't bother her that much, but cauldrons made machines. Deadly machines. She could handle almost all of them, but she prayed to All-Mother as she scaled down that they wouldn't run into a stalker. 

Fuck stalkers. Mean, hateful things that you could seen and could bite your arm off in a second if you weren't careful. Not only did they have stealth technology, they had dart guns and proximity flares to boot. A perfect hunting machine. It was terrifying but she respected it. She wanted to learn from them, but she didn't want to fight them. 

Amos hit the bottom of the decline into the cauldron where it opened up into a large area. Machines making machines. What a concept. Amos turned around to see where her friends went; Daeg was right behind her. “Want to split up and cover more ground? “ Daeg asked. Amos nodded and Daeg proceeded to explore in a different direction. 

Amos continued to descend towards the cauldron core while her friends looted the crates and boxes within. Hopefully she would find something valuable enough to buy food for the month. She may have been a mercenary but it was a hard time for mercenary work. Since the Battle of the Spire, there wasn't really need for hired work to take out thieves, bandits and slavers because they were already all but dead. Now they delved into ruins for money for some Oseram folk. That's what they were doing before they got caught in the storm. 

Wait. 

What the hell?

Amos stopped in her tracks. She saw boardwalks, shafts, and old fire pits. This used to be a excavation site for some reason. This wasn't a normal cauldron. “Hey. Guys?” She called out. No answer. She must have gone a little too far out of earshot. She walked over to the fire pit. It was still warm. Who ever was here wasn't gone long. Shit. This was bad. She stopped for a second and listened. Daeg was shouting at Ivan for something. Machines were still making machines. She heard nothing else. 

Amos figured there was no reason to stop scrounging, so she continued to look around the site. She looted some boxes and found shards and wire, but her curiosity got the better of her. Why were they here? Who goes into a cauldron for shits and giggles? She began looking deeper. Maybe a little too deep because she kicked a body walking under a scaffolding. Amos crouched down to observe it. 

Male. Tall. Took an arrow to the head. Dead for a while. Something else is on his head. A trinket of some sorts? Amos took it off his ear and put it on. 

Instantaneous light and sound as she was surrounded by a purple grid of sorts. “Holy SHIT!” Amos shouted as she took a couple of steps back in surprise. All around her, things were lighting up, things she couldn't see before. She could see figures through walls, indicating the figures as her colleagues. She saw doors she wasn't aware of before. 

“Holy fucking shit,” Amos gasped in wonder. At that point, Amos realized that she had unsheathed her lance in defense. She held it up in the grid and glyphs appeared under the lance, reading “LANCE”. She took her bow and it repeated the same action. 

“Whoa. Cool,” she said in amazement.  
She continued to look around, letting the trinket read and label each thing she found. Amos then heard a noise, and turned around, accidentally scanning something. A man showed up in her grid. He looked ethereal, so Amos didn't feel inclined to attack. 

“Journal log. It is Day 2 of Autumn Sun. I am this close to exacting my revenge upon Avad and his whore ginger. If they think that the death of my father was the end of our revolution, they were wrong. I will cleanse the Sundom of this sin and wretched filth, and let the shadow reign once again. Soon, they will know fear. Especially the ginger cur who killed my father in cold blood”. 

The transmission ended. 

Amos’s excitement was quelled. She knew this man. She watched this man massacre her village. She knew that face, the cold look, the smirk. She knew it well. Kavir. 

That voice made her blood run cold. 

She knew Avad. She fought in his liberation. This woman that was spoken of, well, it wasn't hard not to hear of her. If Kavir was seeking vengeance for his father and the Shadow Carja, she needed to warn them, and now. 

 

“AMOS! Look what I found!” 

Amos turned around, washing her panicked expression away from her face. “Look at this trinket!” Daeg ran towards her holding a similar trinket she was wearing. 

“Where did you find that?!” 

“On a dead guy! How cool is that!” 

“Oh me too!” 

Daeg cocked his head to the right to look at the one on the side of her head. He put on his in the same fashion and it activate. 

“Holy SHIT!” 

Daeg took a step back and looked around. “No way”, he said with a grin on his face. Amos deactivated hers and pointed to where she scanned the transmission. “Scan that with your device” she said. He did so, and stood there while the transmission played. His facial expression grew more horrified as the transmission played. She knew that face. It was the same face she had as she looked into the face of the man that murdered her mother. Daeg’s parents were massacred by the same man. 

“We need to head to Meridian. Now. Let's gather Hesh and Ivan”, Amos told him. 

“Agreed.”

Amos climbed up the wires to find the two mercenaries with Daeg following close behind her. Whatever Kavir had planned, she hoped she wasn't too late to warn Avad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit is about to hit the fan.


	3. Dire Consequences

Chapter 3

Amos slept walked back to Lone Light. She didn't even know how she got there after the fight. Stunned and covered in blood, Amos stumbled into the village with Daeg shuffling closely behind her. She didn't notice the guard calling out after her. She didn't hear the local healer shouting and running toward her. All she could hear was the screams of Hesha and the silence of Ivan. 

It was an ambush. Amos, who was cautious as usual, waited to emerge from the cauldron until she could see if the coast was clear. She was still feeling unsettled about the transmission she picked up. The entire environment around her made her feel uneasy. She had decide to flip on her device she had found to help her see, but before she could even flip in on, Ivan ran out of the cauldron. 

The next thing she knew, Ivan turned back around to face her, smiling. He never understood her caution, occasionally teasing her about her healthy dose of paranoia. 

He laughed as an arrow pierced the back of his head through his right eye socket. Amos’s stomach lurched as she watched Ivan fall, then she felt a white hot pain in her left shoulder as another arrow pierced through her. She felt Daeg’s hand grab the back of her coat and pull her back. She heard Hesha screaming Ivan’s name with horror. She saw men in masks charging towards them with swords drawn and murderous intentions. Then her instincts set in as she jerked the arrow out of her shoulder and she drew her short sword and lance. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Daeg draw his bow and notch three arrows. He shot, taking down three men that were advancing towards them. She charged forward, taking her lance and skewering a man six feet in front of her. She smirked. She gave up a spear for a lance and sword, and it wore her like a second skin. She didn't even miss her spear now that she had long range and short range advantages to her skill set. She turned and sliced a man’s throats with her short sword as he tried to come up behind her. 

She heard Daeg yelling as she took a second to scan their surroundings. Fifty men and four, shit, no three of them. There was no way they could take these guys out in their own. 

She took too long to think and paid for it. She felt an arrow pierce her thigh and she staggered. 

“Amos! We need to run!” Daeg screamed at her. 

She didn't need to be told as she found a rappel point to her right. She starting running, and Daeg and Hesha followed suit as she jumped off the point and threw her grappling hook up to catch her. As she landed, she felt hot pain shoot up her thigh, the arrow still lodged in there. She looked up to see Daeg closing in on the ground, but where was Hesha? Amos looked around with panic. Daeg started running to her left and cursed. She followed and looked away in painful shock as she saw what caused Daeg’s curse. Hesha’s grappling hook snapped halfway down, and the impact of the fall had killed her instantly. Hesha’s body was bent in a contorted shape with a shocked and scared expression locked onto her face forever. 

Her last face would give Amos nightmares, along with Ivan’s last laugh with the sound of arrow crushing bone along with it. Hesha wasn't a fighter but she took the risk to follow Amos to make sure she didn't kill herself. 

“Amos, we…we,” Daeg stammered, losing the strength to finish his sentence. 

Amos said nothing as she tore herself away from Hesha’s body to leave it. They couldn't take her with them. They were still being pursued. Amos felt disgusted with herself at the fact they had to leave her to the rodents but there was no time. As Amos heard the shouts from the men above, she ran as fast as she could in her state towards Lone Light. 

…………………….

“I don't think the Sawtooth counts towards your score.”

Aloy smirked while she scrapped at the Sawtooth carcass that she finished off. 

“Come on! It counts! We hunt machines, don't we?”

“We were hunting for meat not parts!” Varl laughed. Varl had killed two boar while she had been handling the Sawtooth, and he had already skinned them when he came across Aloy to boast. Of course, he couldn’t take down a Sawtooth quite like Aloy could. She killed machines with grace and prowess. It was mesmerizing to watch her hunt. Since the Battle for the Spire, the machines were less aggressive but they were still dangerous to mess with. 

He was so glad that she came back with them. He knew she originally came back to honor Rost and his wish for her to be a part of he tribe, but he was happy she was here. In fact, this was the happiest he had been. When his sister was killed by the Eclipse, he felt as if his heart had been tore out. He couldn't protect his little sister, and it would haunt it. It still made him proud that she died saving others, but the fact she had to in the first place pissed him off whenever he thought about it. 

Aloy was with Vala. She tried to save her. She did what he wished he was there to do. She avenged her death with him and for the first time in weeks he felt as if the gaping hole was healing and closing up. When the Eclipse tried to murder his entire tribe, she came running back to fight with them. When he saw her face after weeks of wondering if she was dead or alive, his gaping hole ached as if the piece that was missing had found its way back. He became a Seeker to fight in the final battle, it was only because he wanted to see her one last time. If he was to die, her warm smile was the last thing he wanted to see. 

These last ten months, he didn't expect to fall for her. He was attracted to her the first time he saw her, but he swore he wouldn't fall in love with her. He was afraid she wouldn't think it was real, her being the “Anointed” of the tribe. She had already expressed her annoyance of the tribe’s worship of her. 

He didn't expect to love her, but he found himself wishing for a moment alone with her. This was his chance. They finally had a moment to themselves. 

“I may have you beat in hunting game, but I wish I was adept in machine hunting as you,” Varl said, looking at Aloy with intensity that he himself wasn't even aware of. 

“That's not true. You are pretty terrifying as a hunter yourself. “

“That’s not what I meant,” Varl said as he stood to face her and walked toward her. He stopped just inches from her face, and he felt the heat of her as he looked down on her. She blushed and he hesitated for a moment. 

“Did I really just do this? This is stupid. She probably thinks I'm stupid. Talking about hunting. What the hell is that all about?” Varl thought to himself. 

He let his instinct take as he brushed the hair in her face and tucked it behind her ear. “The way you move when you hunt. It's like you’re dancing. It's intoxicating.” 

“Idiot. I'm an idiot. That was a stupid thing to say.” He thought. 

He still kept his eyes on her and to his surprise her eyes were locked on his. He went to close the gap between their lips, and just when he felt her breath in his lips, 

“Aloy! Varl!”

Damn. 

Varl snapped to attention to look at none other than Teb sauntering towards them, waving. 

“You have awesome timing,” Varl growled while Ten gave him an innocent shrug. 

“Teersa is looking for Aloy, and we have the feast in a couple of hours. What have you guys been doing?” Teb replied. 

“Hunting,” Aloy replied matter-of-fact like. Varl didn't know whether he was imagining it, but she sounded equally as annoyed as him. 

“We better head back. Before they kill me,” said Teb as he turned to head up the valley. 

Varl watched him head up as he turned to Aloy. 

“I guess we should follo-“

He was taken by surprise as Aloy kissed him, standing on her tip-toes to reach him. She held him there, and Varl took his hands and held her face to keep her there for a moment. She pulled back and gave him a smile. 

“I don't like being interrupted out of an nice moment, do you?” Aloy smiled as she turned to follow Teb. 

Varl smiled as he watched her walk, and then proceeded to follow. 

……………………

Daeg was pissed. Amos was dizzy. She felt sick. She didn't know whether to contribute it to the blood loss or the image of Hesha’s face as her corpse lay contorted on the ground. 

“Sit” Daeg said firmly. 

Amos obeyed. Daeg didn't tell her what to do often but when he did, she knew he was serious. Amos looked around drowsily. She was in a room full of herbs and potions. Healer. Daeg took her to a healer. Daeg looked unscathed for once. A couple of scratches from the running and jumping but relatively unscathed. 

The healer, Jesa, ran in with a look of urgency on her face. “Amos! Thank the Sun! It doesn't look too serious,” Jesa said. Amos had been Jesa’s patient many times. So many times that they knew each other in and out. In and out. Amos wasn't too picky on her lovers. Men and women, they were all beautiful to her. Jesa eventually found love a year back with a maizeland owner, but Amos still saw her as a friend. 

Jesa was beautiful. Short black hair, petite frame. She walked with a grace that only nobles knew of. It was a learned skill, but she acted like she was born with it. 

“Ambushed by Eclipse,” Daeg stated.  
“That can't be! They were rid of in the battle of the Spire!” Jesa exclaimed. 

Amos said nothing. She couldn't. Ivan and Hesha swam through her thought like a cancer. 

“We need an audience with the King. Can you talk to your father?” Daeg asked. 

“Yes. Of course!” Jesa said. “Not until Amos is okay!” She added. 

Amos heard this sentence and snapped into reality. Yes. Yes. They have to tell Avad what they found. Amos looked up to Jesa and stopped. Reality was setting in, replacing the tunnel vision that afflicted her for hour, and she realized why they were in the first place: the transmission, the devices they found, and the men that attacked them. All of the peace that people worked for in a year was about to go up in a puff of smoke. 

Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you shit was hitting the fan. Also, Varl is my cinnamon roll and doesn't get enough love.


	4. Grave Warning

Chapter 4

Daeg was pissed. He was pissed at Ivan. He was pissed at Hesha. He was pissed at those men who killed his friends. Amos was laid up unconscious in the infirmary in Meridian because Jesa eventually deemed Amos’s injuries beyond her skill, and he could do nothing. He could do nothing but walk around and fume at their misfortunes. 

Daeg and Amos had a hard life. They never really belonged with the Nora. There was something about Amos that the rest of the Nora didn't like, and well, Daeg was gay. Daeg couldn't make a woman a mother, and he didn't want to, and of course that pissed off the Nora. Yet they were never outcasts, even though it kind of felt like that. Their families were butchered or taken during the Red Raids, and after that they had nothing left tying them to the tribe that hated them. Amos and Daeg left soon after that. Half the reason was because they wanted blood for blood, the other half was to leave behind the Nora and say good riddance. 

This recent tragedy, he thought, was just enough to break him. If Amos had died, he would of died with her. He would've let them kill him. 

Amos was too stubborn to die. His best friend was made of fire and hatred, forged out of years of abuse by fellow kids of their tribe. Daeg may be physically stronger, but Amos was made of Oseram steel mentally and emotionally. 

The look on her face, however, made him think that this time, she broke. 

He would only be able to tell when she woke up. 

Daeg walked into the pub, and sat down at the bar. He looked around his surroundings, sighed, and ordered a mug of beer. The hefty Oseram woman set down his glass with a thud and walked off as he stared at his glass thinking of the past events that led him here. 

Ivan and Hesha were his friends, but Amos lying in the infirmary upset him more than their deaths. A death of a comrade was a part of life, but Amos was his soulmate he thought. He may be gay, but Amos was the other half of his soul. He figures they must have been one person in a past life, split apart by All-Mother in order to reunite again. Of course, that is what his father said of their friendship. It was true, to Daeg at least. He felt as if he was one with Amos when they were together, and however rarely, when they were apart, he felt stretched. 

Amos wasn't the love of his life, but she was his soul mate. 

Daeg looked up and realized the pub was nearly empty. He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't realize that the sun had set nearly four hours ago. He looked at his full mug of warm beer and shook his head. He had work to do and he wasted the day away feeling sorry for himself. 

Daeg paid his bartender, walked out, and went to go meet the king’s advisor, Marad. 

…………………….

Aloy sat in All-Mother mountain, waiting on Teersa to meet her at the door to the cradle facility. Teersa had sent Teb to request Aloy to meet her here, but she was late, as usual. Teersa was so damn old, she had an excuse to be so slow. Aloy absentmindedly started to play with the wires of her spear while she thought of the kiss she and Varl shared. Of course, she could talk to him about that later, if Teersa would hurry her ass up. For someone who said that it was urgent, she sure was taking her sweet time.  
“Aloy!”

Aloy stood to attention as she saw the old matriarch approaching her. 

“You said it was urgent?” Aloy asked. 

Teersa stood in front of Aloy and handed her a parchment. Aloy took it, and she recognized the handwriting as she read the letter. 

“Avad is requesting my presence? With utmost urgency?” Aloy asked, with a puzzled look written on her face. 

“Apparently the threat we faced a year ago has not disappeared. You are in danger Aloy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to introduce Daeg's POV to address how important his character is and how important his relationship with Amos is.


	5. First Impressions

Amos sat with her leg propped up in a chair in the council room waiting on the rest of the people to show up. Daeg was sitting across from her, impatiently tapping his fingers on the table. 

“For a bunch of people who found out that they were in danger, they certainly aren't in a hurry to prevent it,” Daeg grumbled. Amos smiled tiredly, as she was still recovering from the battle a month ago. She was alright, but easily fatigued. 

“They helped us retrieve Hesha and Ivan’s bodies and give them a proper burial. They can take their time,” Amos reminded him as he shrugged and continued to tap his fingers. 

The door opened with Marad entering, followed by the captain of the Vanguard and the king. The captain frowned at Amos and Daeg as if he expected them to stand up. Amos smirked back at him, winking for good measure. She stood for no one. Especially not for Avad. She had nothing against the man, but if he wanted to be treated like a regular person, by God she was going to treat him as such. 

Avad seemed to notice the mild tension and coughed. 

“Amos and Daeg. Welcome. Thank you for coming to this council meeting. The others will join us shortly. We are waiting for a particular person to arrive,” Avad informed them. 

“Yes, yes, yes. Aloy of the Nora. The one that everyone thinks has the sun shining out of her ass,” Amos said sarcastically. Daeg muffled a laugh as the captain scowled at her. She winked at him again, which seem to take him aback a little bit. 

“This is Erend, my captain of my personal Vanguard and I'm sure you know Marad,” Avad continued, ignoring Amos’s last statement. Marad nodded at Amos in which Amos returned, as he was Jesa’s father. Amos knew him well, having many dinners with him while her and Jesa were lovers. 

The door opened again with two Nora men walking in, in which Amos recognized them instantly. Teb and Varl. Teb and Amos were the same age while Varl was a bit younger. Teb smiled jubilantly at her upon recognition. 

“Amos, thank All-Mother you are alive and well!” Teb said as he came in to hug her. Amos stood up from her seat to give him a bear hug. 

“I take it, you know each other?” Avad asked. Teb beamed at Amos. “Amos is a old friend of mine. You can say Daeg, Amos, and I were friends in trying times.” 

Amos nodded as she saw Daeg come up to Teb and hug him, picking him up and squeezing Teb until Teb grunted. Teb was also a reject in some ways. He was willing to speak with outcasts and his father always saw him as weak, so Teb was constantly ignored by his family. 

“Up until you two left anyway,” Teb said only, his joyous mood somewhat diminished. 

“Why?” Erend asked. 

“Vengeance,” Amos replied, not taking her eyes off of Teb. “ Let's just leave it at that. “

Amos looked at Varl , who was looking at the door as a young girl walked through it. Amos had to do a double take. Aloy, who she assumed that was, looked almost like her. Amos, of course was older, a bit taller and more gaunt, while Aloy was more healthy looking, as if hard times hadn't touched her yet. 

Apparently she wasn't the only one who noticed as she became aware as the other people in the room was looking at them both. 

………………..

Aloy looked at the older woman as she stood still, trying to process who she was seeing. The woman wasn't much older, maybe by five years or so, with red hair and pointed features. If she was more filled in, she could've looked just like Aloy. However, she was muscular, but lean due to hard fighting and training. Pain was a constant expression on her face it seemed, masked by humor and sarcasm. 

She was wearing a focus. 

This was impossible. How could they look so similar? It was uncanny. 

The woman broke the silence and said “You must be the famed ginger everyone was talking about. I'm jealous. I thought I was the only ginger around here.” The woman sat back down in her seat, her posture relaxed and lazy. 

Avad seemed to recover from the awkward silence faster than everyone else. 

“Aloy, I'm so happy to see you. We have much to discuss.” 

“Sure. What is this urgency you spoke of?” 

“I think it would better if Amos here explained.”

 

That was her name. Amos. 

Amos stood up and took the focus off of her ear. 

“My group and I were exploring a cauldron when I discovered that people had already been in there. They set up an excavation site for some reason. I picked up this device off of a dead man. Daeg did the same.” She motioned to the man on her right sitting across from her. The large man also had a focus on his ear. 

“I picked up a transmission, well that's what this thing” she set the focus on the table “said it was.” The transmission showed a man speaking about a plot to destroy Meridian and cleanse it, along with plotting to kill Avad and you,” Amos finished, turning to face Aloy. 

“Who was this man?” asked Erend. 

“Kavir.” 

Aloy watched Avad straighten up in his chair as Erend stood up abruptly. 

“That's impossible. He should be long dead with his father,” Erend stated. 

Avad had a grim look on his face. 

“Probably not considering that his father may have had him away from the battle as insurance to keep his legacy alive,” Marad butted in. 

Aloy’s gut was churning at this point. She didn't want the answer to the question she was about to ask. 

“Who was his father?”

Avad sat back in his chair and answered her. 

“Helis. “

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue in ominous music in the background.


	6. Cut Down

“Helis.”

Amos let the name ring in her ears for a moment as looked around that for the Nora girl’s look on her face. 

Fear. Good. That meant she was human. 

“Okay. Now that we have the anticlimactic reveal out of the way, what do we do about Kavir?” Amos said dryly. 

Aloy piped up. “Easy. I kill him like I killed his father.”

Amos rolled her eyes. Really? This was the girl that everyone revered?

“Oh yes. I forgot everything is really that simple. Maybe I should go home?” 

“Obviously, there should be a plan.” Aloy shot back

“Oh. Of course. Since the revered one says there should be a plan, then we should make one. Of course, if that's convenient for you.” Amos mocked. 

“Guys, this isn't productive,” Teb inserted. Amos ignored him. 

“And say if we do find him and you get your chance, what are you going to do? Stab him with your spear?” Amos said. She knew Aloy was smarter than this, but for some reason, Amos felt the need to cut her down a notch. 

“Kavir isn't Helis. Helis was a dumb, brutish zealot. Kavir is an intelligent , calculating, and smarmy little asshole who kills people to get himself off at night. He doesn't do things by the will of the sun like he says he does. He loves the feeling of cracking someone's spine and hearing them cry out in pain,” Amos growled. The memory of her mother’s death resurfaced as she grinned at Aloy. 

She could tell Aloy was fuming because Varl, who was behind her had stood up to set his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. For some reason, it set Amos off even more. 

“If you plan to simply kill Kavir, you won't solve the problem. And you won't kill him. He’ll dig his blade into your gut and watch as you squeal out in pain. He’ll make your death slow just so he can jerk off to the image later. So please, go on and tell us how you plan to kill him with your spear because obviously strategy isn't what you are good at,” Amos ranted. 

Aloy walked up to get in her face, and said with a slow, dry tone in her voice,”I heard about you. I may not have the best plan, but at least I don't run and let my friends die.”

Daeg shot up but not before Amos instinctively slapped Aloy. 

“Girl, fuck you,” Amos said curtly. She hoped that slap had embarrassed Aloy more than it hurt her. However, everyone but Avad shot up from their seats. 

“ENOUGH!” Avad bellowed, his voice echoing through the room. 

Avad stood up, and turned to Amos, “Obviously we are tired and hungry from the journey and the injuries we sustained during a battle. We will meet back here in the morning with better tempers and clearer minds.”  
With silence, the people in the room started to file out. Aloy stormed off first, holding her cheek with Varl following her, trying to talk her down. Teb followed, looking at Amos with a sad twinge to his eyes. Erend got up and faced Amos. 

“I see that again, I'll knock the wind out of you.”

“Don't threaten me with a good time. I like the idea of you knocking the wind out of me. Of course, in more private settings,” Amos smarted back with a furious grimace on her face. She felt Daeg behind her suddenly, sizing up with Erend. 

“Out, Erend,” Avad demanded. Erend growled and left. 

Daeg looked at Amos, “I'll meet you outside.” 

Amos nodded, and he left, leaving only her and Avad in the room. 

“That was unnecessary,” Avad scolded. 

“That was more than necessary,” retorted Amos, “I don't know how that idiot girl survived this long with that foolhardy determination she has going for her.” 

“She saved this kingdom along with your tribe.” 

“It's not my tribe,” Amos said as she walked out the door. 

………………..

Aloy was pissed. How dare that woman talk to her that way. Mocking her. Cutting her down. 

Bitch. 

“Aloy, are you okay?” 

Aloy turned to see Varl staring at her with concern. 

“I'm fine, just angry.”

“I also assumed that you are a little embarrassed.” The voice was different, and she looked behind Varl to see a man walking up to them. This man was huge. He had Erend’s girth but he towered over her. 

“I'm Daeg. And you just pissed off my best friend.” 

Aloy scoffed. “Pissed her off! Really?! She came at me, talking to me like I was stupid!”

“What can I say but she’s been through a hard time,” Daeg answered. “Varl.”

“Daeg.” Varl nodded at the man. 

“How's Sona?” 

“Still riding my ass about everything,” Varl laughed. 

“What are moms for, huh?” Daeg shrugged at him. “Say, how about we go get some drinks? Varl can tell me how him and Teb got permission to leave the Sacred Lands and I can tell you, Aloy, why you should never bring up Amos’s last battle ever again.” 

Daeg winked at her. Aloy couldn't tell if he was flirting or being friendly. Varl didn't get protective, so maybe he was just being friendly. 

“Uh, sure. Maybe you can also explain to me why she has it out for me even though we've just met,” said Aloy. 

“Deal.” 

Daeg turned to lead Aloy and Varl to the pub, while Aloy thought about the events in the room that led her cheek to burn so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a shorter chapter but I'm trying to get some tension going between Aloy and Amos. 
> 
> Yes. Amos is kind of an asshole.


	7. We're here now

The pub was busy. Varl had followed Aloy and Daeg inside, and suddenly felt claustrophobic with the amount of people in one closed area. He was used to Mother’s Heart, but Meridian was enormous. 

“Sit here,” Daeg said as he led the pair to a table. Aloy pointed to another table with who Varl recognized as the captain of the Vanguard. Erend was his name, right? Daeg shook his head and said,”That guy doesn't really like me right now, considering I'm associated with the person that slapped you.”

Varl turned to Aloy, who was grimacing at this moment. “Speaking of which, are you alright?” 

Aloy shrugged, “I'm fine. I'm over it.”

Aloy sat down at the table in which Varl sat in the chair directly next to her. He felt eyes on him, in which he realized Daeg was grinning at him with curiosity. “Let me go order a round,” Daeg said as he turned to walk to the bar. Varl nodded and turned to Aloy, asking her again, “Are you sure you are alright?”

“Yeah. Trust me. I've simmered on it long enough. I kind of deserved that slap after what I said to her.”

“What you said didn't give her permission to lay her hand on you, Aloy.”

“No. It didn't. I'll speak with her on that”, Daeg yelled over the crowd as he was walking towards the table with three mugs. 

“Nora mead. Taste of home,” Daeg spoke, sitting down and handing two mugs to Aloy and Varl. Varl took it enthusiastically while Aloy merely sniffed at it while cupping the mug with both her hands. Varl loved Nora mead after a long day. He might even take Aloy’s mug off his hands if she let him. 

Daeg looked straight at Aloy with a genuine apologetic look on his face. “I'm sorry she antagonized and slapped you in the meeting today. I know I don't have to apologize for her but she's usually not like this. She's learned to control her temper over the years so this is a new one for us.”

“Seems like she does this all of the time, seeing that she slapped me without hesitation,” Aloy retorted, not taking Daeg seriously at all. Varl felt annoyed for a moment, knowing that Aloy tended to be single-minded in certain situations. 

“No. Actually, she doesn't. She will probably actually suck it up and come apologize to you once she calms down. Amos has a clear distinction between right and wrong, and you. It's were wrong. She knows that,” Daeg said sternly. Varl could tell Aloy’s cheeks were burning again. She wasn't used to being spoken to with such a tone. 

“Amos and I’s last battle took a toll on her. Me as well. Amos doesn't abandon a fight but when you are just three against fifty or so men, you run so you can fight another day. We watched one friend bite it with an arrow in his eye and another snap in half while trying to rappel off a cliff. Amos watched Ivan die and I got to see Hesha fall to her death. It was things that we couldn't prevent and it killed people we couldn't save. 

Varl lowered his head as he thought of the horrible images that Daeg had seen. He knew both Daeg and Amos, and he also knew they endured things that no one their age should have. 

“So if you don't mind, don't ever mention that day again to either Amos or me. Amos almost died fighting. She shouldn't have slapped you, but you said that statement to hurt her. So in that case, you both were very wrong.” 

“What about the things she said beforehand?” Aloy blurted out. 

“She was right. You can't just kill Kavir. We’ve already tried, and the guy is a demagogue. Helis and Bahavas thought they were pulling the strings. Kavir is the metal devil himself and he is a master at orchestrating death.” 

Aloy fell silent. Varl felt himself shudder. A human version of a metal devil? Terrifying. A man that makes followers for himself at a snap of the fingers like a metal devil created those infernal machines like Aloy described to him. 

Daeg sat back in his chair, and took a giant swig of his mead. Daeg smiled warmly at Aloy and changed his entire demeanor towards her. 

“Look, I have no doubt that you can take down mountains, Aloy. You help save thousands of people, but this isn't something that you can take down overnight or alone with you,” he pointed to the focus on his ear and then hers “whatever this thing is.” 

Aloy laughed, “Its a focus.” 

Daeg chuckled,” Oh. That's what this thing is?”

Daeg shook his head as if to somehow wave them back to the conversation. “My point is, Amos and I, especially Amos, knows this guy personally. This is our mission as much as it is yours.”

Varl nodded in agreement and turned to Aloy, “This is a personal one for the Nora too. A lot of people died at Kavir’s hands.”

Aloy sighed and nodded towards Daeg. “Okay. I get it.”

Daeg nodded at her in understanding. “Just talk to her. You guys seem like you would be just alike.”

Varl laughed. How twisted would it be if they ended up being alike in every way. They looked as if they could be sisters. 

……………..

Amos balanced herself on the railing of the balcony and rolled a cigarette out of some parchment and tobacco leaf she got a hold of from a merchant. She knew it was a nasty habit, but she didn't care. She sat there, looking at the night sky. She loved to look at the gray/black horizon, into vast nothingness sprinkled with small light. It reminded her of her life. Darkness with patches of light that her friends brought, and the sky just got a little darker. 

“You know that's a bad habit, right?”

Amos looked around to find the voice and found Teb walking towards her, his hands shoved in his pockets. 

“Don't worry. I'll apologize to her later. You don't have to give me a lecture,” Amos groaned.   
“I wasn't here for that. I just missed you.”

Amos smiled at her long lost friend. “I miss you too, Teb.”

Teb was looking at her as she took a long drag of her cigarette. He looked sad. 

“What?” 

Teb smiled wistfully at her. “You look like you're in pain.” 

“Well I was shot by arrows only but a month ago.”

“That's not what I meant.”

Amos flicked the last of her cigarette off the balcony and slid off the rail to face her friend. 

“What do you mean Teb?” She wasn't asking for an answer. She knew the answer. She just wanted someone else besides Daeg to tell her how she was a tortured soul. 

“You've been through so much. I mean, so have I. I lost my father and mother in that raid too. It's just. It's seems like more than that.”

Teb paused and shifted his feet. “You seem better, like you have more control and you aren't so angry anymore, but the pain isn't gone.”

Amos softened and looked at Teb. Teb looked like her in a sense. Pain and grief aged him emotionally and mentally. It made him a shield to others even if he was physically weaker. She figured he wore that sad expression all the time, even if he didn't know it. 

“Time heals all wounds, Teb. It's just, well this last battle I was in, it opened all of the scars I sustained along the way. Kavir. He caused us so much pain. I have to stop the pain he is spreading through this world.”

“I know. It's just. You kind of took your pain out on my friend.” 

Amos looked at Teb sheepishly. “I know. I just. Well. I guess I just don't understand why she is all “gung ho” about this entire situation. “

“She doesn't understand it. You have to make her understand.”

“Will you help me?”

“Of course. I'd do anything for you.” 

Amos smiled. It was like she never left to him. 

Teb had a wide grin on his face. “She's at the Oseram pub. I hear they have good Nora mead.”

Amos laughed. “They do. Let's go.” 

Teb and Amos walked with elbows hooked together. Amos stopped and frowned at Teb.

Teb looked at her, puzzled. “What?”  
“I'm sorry we abandoned you.”

“It's okay. I forgave you a long time. I realized that it was for the best. We are here now.”

Amos smiled. The dead weight of guilt on her heart seemed to have lessened. 

Amos and Teb continued towards the pub, shoulder to shoulder, elbows linked, as they did so long ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will get to the Varl and Aloy fluff next chapter my duckies. ;)


	8. Understanding

“You took down a Thunderjaw?! By yourself?!”

Daeg looked at Aloy with awe that Aloy was all too familiar with. 

“Try not to make a big fuss over it,” Aloy said dryly. 

Daeg looked at her sheepishly. “Sorry. I just. I thought only Amos could do that.” 

There was her name again. Why did Daeg like this girl so much? Aloy looked at the table that had grown from a table of three to a table of six. Erend had walked over to join them along with two of his Vanguard men. Tomas and Kirk as she recalled. 

“Aloy can take down a Thunderjaw and an entire board of stalkers all before breakfast,” Erend said. She could tell he was starting to get competitive with Daeg for some reason. She liked Daeg. He was warm and relaxed, which was refreshing among the usual company she kept. The worries of tomorrow didn't seem to phase him like the others. 

Daeg threw his hands up in surrender, sensing the tension between Erend and him. 

“I am not doubting she can do that. She took a slap from my partner and was still standing. It's not an easy feat.”

Aloy smothered a giggle as Varl hid his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking. He was three mugs of mead down and working on his fourth. She had a feeling he was starting to feel the effects. Luckily he seemed to be slowing down. 

Varl took his hands away from his face and turned to Aloy. “Don't think I'm trying to put Amos on a pedestal,” he warned, “but I didn't know her too well. I did get the pleasure of seeing her take down Resh after he badmouthed her mother. She's a force.”

“She took down Resh?” Aloy asked in amazement. Maybe she could actually get along with this girl, seeing as this girl probably gave Resh a black eye that Aloy wanted to give him herself. 

“I got a stern talking to from Matriarch Teersa for giving that chuff a broken nose.”

Aloy whipped around as she saw Amos and Teb approaching from behind her. She felt a twinge of betrayal from Teb for a moment seeing him with her, and then brushed it off considering that they were old friends. 

“I don't recall anyone inviting you,” Erend replied, venom dripping from his voice. 

Amos winked at him and looked to Aloy. “If you don't mind calling off your attack dog, Aloy, I'd like to speak to you privately.” Aloy saw a twinge of regret from Amos’s face, which was different from the constant smirk she wore. Aloy suddenly thought that maybe that was some sort of defense mechanism. 

Aloy looked at Daeg as he nodded towards her, and she stood up. “Sure, we will got outside for a moment.” Amos patted Teb’s back as he sat down, replacing Aloy. Amos gestured toward the door and Aloy proceeded to follow. 

………….

Aloy seemed less guarded than when Amos first saw her walk in the council room. She figured Daeg may have softened her up a bit. Amos rolled another cigarette, this time adding an herb than would calm her a bit. 

“Want one?” she asked Aloy, holding out the cigarette. Aloy shook her head to reply. 

“Good. It's a bad habit. Disgusting habit actually.” 

“I know. Erend smokes a pipe.”

“That stick in the mud smokes? Interesting.”

“He's not a stick in the mud. You just left a bad first impression.”

“Seems to be an ongoing theme here.”

Amos leaned her head back and puffed out. 

“Look. I didn't bring you out here to make small talk. I wanted to apologize for earlier today. I was out of line and I shouldn't have hit you.”

“Your friend says you aren't usually like that.”

“He's usually right.”

“Then why did you start with me.”

Amos smiled at Aloy gently. “Kavir brings out the worst in me. That man,” Amos huffed, “Well. Let's just say I aim to make him a human pin cushion before he dies.”

“I have to admit I've never heard of him.”

Amos shrugged. “Helis and Bahavas were the loudest of the Shadow Carja. The ones that had something to prove. It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.”

Aloy looked at Amos curiously. Amos seemed and looked young, same age as Erend and Avad, but at the same time it looked like she was aged dramatically by trauma. It wasn't her looks but the way she carried herself. She was like an old bow. Tough but worn. 

Their last conversation suddenly flashed in Aloy’s mind as she began to see where Amos was coming from. 

“What did he do to you?”

Amos laughed breathily. “Nicely deduced. He led a raid to my village in the Sacred Lands and slaughtered almost everyone there. This happened shortly before the liberation.”

“But what did he do to you?”

Amos looked at Aloy wearily. She didn't want to hash out the details of her bloodied past, but she needed Aloy to understand. 

“Kavir likes to feel other people’s pain. Daeg and I were hunting when we heard explosions and screaming from the direction our village was in. We rushed back to fight, but..”  
Amos stopped to gather her words. Aloy could sense that they were going to be painful. 

“I had reached my home in time to see Kavir break my mother’s spine over his knee. The crack was, well, let's just say I hear that noise every once in awhile in my dreams.”

“I…I'm so sorry,” Aloy chocked out. 

“Happens less often now. I smoke these herbs to help me sleep.”

“Is that why you want him to suffer?”

“That's half the reason. There are worse things than death, Aloy.”

Aloy could sense there was more to the story, but she chose not to press it. 

“I got irritated with you, Aloy, because you remind me of me when I was young. Foolhardy, with a “I can do it by myself” attitude.”

Amos turned to Aloy with a somber look on her face. “I just don't want you to suffer like I did. If I knew then what I know now, I could've prevented a lot of the things I got myself into trying to take revenge on Kavir.”

Aloy nodded, speechless. She had underestimated Amos. Maybe Daeg was right. They were similar. 

“Aloy!” 

Aloy turned around to see Varl approaching her with a goofy grin. Amos chuckled behind her. 

“Go tend to your boyfriend. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“He's….well…he's not exactly,” Aloy stammered. 

Amos was already walking away from her. “Yeah okay, well go tend to your “not exactly a boyfriend” and I'll see you tomorrow and discuss a real plan.” Amos yelled back. 

Aloy’s face turned hot as she watched Varl come towards her. 

………..

Varl wasn't drunk. It took him more than four meads to get him even tipsy. It shocked his fellow braves how much he could actually throw back. 

“Did you get everything hashed out?” He asked Aloy. He watched Amos walking into the dark streets behind Aloy as she threw a wave as a goodnight. 

Aloy nodded. “I don't exactly understand everything, but I think we are going to be okay.”

“Good,” Varl said as he grinned at her. “Now I want to say something to you.”

Aloy blushed. “Is it about the kiss?” 

“Two weeks and you barely mention anything about it. Did I do something wrong?”

Aloy shuffled her feet. “No. I just. Well, it wasn't something I expected of myself.”

Varl chuckled at her, “Was it your first?” Aloy nodded. 

“I like you Varl. I just didn't expect to like you so damn much.”

Aloy looked up from her feet only to see Varl grinning at her. It seemed like he was trying to hold back a laugh. 

“Don't laugh at me! You know this isn't easy for me!”

“First understanding someone who gave you no reason to, and now you are admitting you like me. It's a big day for you!” Varl jabbed at her. His grin was from ear to ear at this point. He liked this side of Aloy. He didn't get to see it often. Aloy was empathic and kind, but it was rare that she spoke of her own feelings. He got that. Outcasts didn't have much opportunity to have friends to open up to. 

“To be honest, I liked haven't been able to stop thinking about that kiss, Aloy.” Varl took his hands to Aloy’s face gently. 

Aloy’s face felt warm, or his hands were cold, one. Aloy looked up at him. “Really?” Aly asked cautiously. Varl pressed his lips against hers, and he held them there for a second until she made the move to kiss him back. 

He felt her melt against him as he deepened their kiss, moving his mouth just enough, but not too much to scare her. He only broke it as he heard Daeg and Teb bust out of the pub laughing Daeg drunkenly whooped at Varl as he turned to face the duo. 

“My man! I knew there was something between y’all!” Daeg shouted drunkenly, as he was bearing most of his weight on Ten, nearly crushing him. 

Varl flipped him off as Aloy bashfully peeked from behind him. 

“Guys. I can't carry him in my own,” Teb pleaded. Varl shrugged and laughed as he walked over to Daeg, taking one arm as Teb took the other. Aloy followed closely behind them as Varl lead them to the inn. 

As annoyed as he was about the interrupted moment, he grinned to himself. There would be time for him and Aloy to continue later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. You will have to bear with me. I have school, work, and a toddler so chapters won't come nearly as often as I would like. 
> 
> I will try to post at least once or twice a week if I can. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	9. Solutions

“We can't just go into The Claim without provoking the Oseram. No matter what we have been through with both of the tribes, the relations between both tribes are rocky at best.” 

“We have to scour this land if we are to find Kavir. We don't know where he is, or where he could be.” 

“We can't send all our men throughout the land. We are stretched thin enough as it is.”

“And if we do find him, who knows how big his army is. We could be facing an army as big as the Eclipse.”

Daeg’s head was spinning, but he couldn't tell if it was the hangover or the amount of voices bouncing around in the room. He looked at Amos to see what she was doing, but her face was. Down with one hand pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation. Erend, Marad, Varl, and Avad were arguing amongst themselves on how it was best to find Kavir. 

Daeg saw Aloy stand up, waving her hands to get the men’s attention, but to no avail. 

“SHUT UP!”

Amos slammed her palm on the table, making the noise echo across the room. 

Silence at last. 

“Excuse me?” Erend asked with a tone that was begging for Amos to speak again. Daeg smiled. If only Erend knew that Amos couldn't be intimidated. 

“Aloy is trying to speak,” Amos said curtly, taking everyone in the room by surprise. Aloy looked at Amos with a thankful expression as she began to speak. 

“We have three people in here that have focuses. That gives us sort of an edge against these men. They probably are not aware of the fact that Daeg and Amos obtained focuses and know of Kavir’s plan to wipe us out,” Aloy stated. 

“Right. All they know is that four mercenaries went poking about where they weren't supposed to and for all they know, they succeeded in killing us in the ambush,” Amos followed. 

“All we need to do is to take some of our best men and split up into three groups.”

Daeg didn't like where this was going. 

“Amos can lead a group to the Claim and scout there. I can go back to the Sacred Lands, and Daeg can take some men and scout around in the Sundom.” 

Damn it. 

Daeg tried to speak up in protest before Avad interrupted him. 

“A logical approach. We can keep the element of surprise with us while spying on Kavir. If he has no knowledge of Daeg and Amos making it out of the Cauldron alive, then we can keep to the shadows while trying to get the upper hand,” Avad concluded. 

Daeg couldn't help himself. “I don't like this idea of Amos and I being separated. We know Kavir more than anyone in this room combined.”  
“Which is precisely why you must be in separate groups. If you two know Kavir and his motives, all groups could stay informed simultaneously. No one will be caught off guard or slaughtered,” Marad interjected. 

“Or worse, captured.” Amos said soberly. 

Daeg hung his head in defeat. Amos was right. He just didn't like feeling out of control. Stretched. 

“We can also communicate with these focuses over distances,” Aloy said reassuringly towards Daeg, sensing his anxiety. 

Daeg relaxed with this piece of information. 

“Then it’s decided. Three groups will head towards all three tribal lands and bring back information. Then maybe we can decide on a proper battle plan,” Avad said. 

Aloy nodded in agreement. “Varl, Teb, and I will head back to the Nora lands. I will gather more people there. I have a feeling some people will be more than eager to help.”

“Since I am heading to the Claim, I can only assume I will be accompanied by the Vanguard,” said Amos. 

“You assume correct,” answered Erend. 

“Daeg, you will be accompanied by one of our best spymasters, Vanasha. Along with a hunter that was a Shadow Carja soldier. I hope he will be more than happy to help track down Kavir,” said Avad. 

Aloy looked puzzled and Daeg didn't understand why. 

“Who is this hunter?” asked Daeg. 

“He goes by Nil now, but he was a part of my father’s army. He will be most helpful in our quest,” Avad answered. 

Aloy rolled her eyes. “That's if you can find him.”

Marad smiled. “Oh, we can find him.”

Amos stood up. “Well, if we have nothing more to discuss, then we should make preparations.”

People started to file out of the room until Daeg and Amos were the only ones left. 

Amos came up to him and hugged him, which Daeg returned. They stood there for awhile, holding each other as if they would never see each other again. 

“Don't worry, we will keep in touch,” Amos said reassuringly. 

“You promise?”

Amos looked up at him. “Come on, we are supposed to get old and cranky and yell at children together. You and me. Always.”

Daeg smiled and kissed her on her forehead. He believed her, but he had a nagging feeling that their plans for their lives were never going to turn out that way. 

………….

Erend huffed as he packed his bags in his apartment. He knew the importance of this mission. Everyone he loved was in danger. Aloy was in danger. Even if he could never be the person he wanted to be for her, he could still protect her with his life. 

That's the way it should be anyway. Vanguards were designed to be the front of the line, at all costs. Hammer to steel, steel before iron. He knew she belonged with the Nora, but he would always make sure she could have the future she wanted. The future she deserved. 

If only he didn't have to travel with that pain in the ass mercenary. 

He was a freebooter before he was a Vanguard. Warriors for pay as he had described them. Yet, mercenaries were worse. They had no allegiance to anyone, and they were morally ambiguous. He couldn't trust a mercenary to make sure Aloy was safe. 

Maybe it was better this way. He could keep his eye on her. Amos was cocky and too relaxed towards everyone for him to trust her. Not to take this mission seriously. He didn't like the way she spoke to people. 

He heard a knock on his door. 

“Yoo hoo! Erend! Travel buddy! Open up!”

Erend heard himself groan. 

“Oh don't be like that. I have mead and tobacco!”

He grumbled to himself as he walked towards his door, opening it to see Amos with a jug in one hand and a bag in the other. 

“Should you be packing?”

“I live out of my bag. Besides, I thought we should get to know each other. Seeing as we are going to be with each other for God knows how long.”

Erend expected a wink, but instead he got a warm smile with sad eyes. It kind of reminded him how Aloy looked at everyone. Who was he kidding. They could be sisters after all. 

Amos stepped in, not waiting for an invite. “I heard you smoked a pipe, and of course you drink. Oseram and all that.”

Erend huffed and at the table. Amos sat across from him and rolled a cigarette, taking out some herb in her pocket and stuffing it in as well. 

“Dreamshade?” Erend asked, puzzled. 

“I don't sleep, and sometimes I need to laugh for no reason. I hope you don't have any food handy because I will eat it.”

Erend mistook this girl for having it all together. She was guarded, not cocky. Arrogant people slept like kittens. She probably hadn't had a good night’s sleep in a very long time. He could relate. Erend leaned back in his chair and took a second look at her. 

She was beautiful. Fine features, petite frame. Her hair was long and red, with one side shaved to show off a tattoo, and the other side had braids here and there. He looked deeper still, seeing a sadness that he never saw in Aloy. She was gaunt in the face, not from starvation but lack of sleep. There were dark circles under her eyes. She didn't smile at people. She grimaced. 

She was another version of Aloy that saw the true darkness that the world had to offer. A darkness that she seemed to mask with arrogance and humor. 

He felt a twinge of guilt for his past treatment of her. 

“Stop staring. Last person who stared at me like that had a good night to follow.”

Erend snapped out of his thoughts and blushed when he realized how long he was staring. 

“Sorry. It's been a long day.”

Amos sat back in her chair and offered him the jug of mead. 

“Tell me about it.”

Erend smiled and pulled out a stack of cards and started to shuffle. 

“I won't go into my life’s story. You haven't earned that yet, but I'll tell you how I'm the best gambler in Meridian,” Erend joked. 

Amos smiled at him, which warmed him up unexpectedly. He had a feeling that he earned that one. 

Maybe he could earn more once they got to know each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to deliver on the smut soon guys. 
> 
> Thanks to you guys for all the support so far. It's keeping me going! I aim to please!
> 
> Isn't platonic intimacy great?


	10. Lessons

Aloy and Amos hid in the tall grass looking across the valley towards Lone Light. Amos shivered in the cold. The weather was getting colder in the Sundom, and she was dreading what it would be like in Oseram territory. 

“This was a nice detour before we all head off our separate ways,” said Amos, still shivering. 

“Stop with the shivering. I'm pretty sure that Thunderjaw can hear your teeth chatter.” 

“Shut up. You're the one that asked me to come out here two fucking days before we all leave. I didn't have time to pack.”

Aloy rolled her eyes while focusing on the machine ahead. 

“Why did you bring me out here anyway? Not to hunt,” Amos asked. 

“I want to teach you how to use your focus, then you can teach Daeg,” Aloy said. Amos scoffed. 

“I'm sure he would be out here if he wasn't such a late sleeper. I'll teach him tonight.”

“You can teach me now.” Daeg said sneaking up behind him. 

Amos barely reacted but Aloy nearly jumped out of her skin. She barely heard him coming. For a man his size, he sure was skilled in stealth. 

Daeg smiled at the two women, proud of his feat. Behind him, Erend was crouching up behind them. Aloy huffed. She wasn't expecting a party, and sneaking up on this Thunderjaw was going to be harder than it needed to be. 

“Here for a show?” Amos asked, showing the same amount of annoyance that Aloy felt. Daeg laughed. 

“I'll hold back with Erend here and watch you girls work.” Erend nodded in agreement. 

Aloy smirked. She knew what this meant. These two men had a bet going. 

Amos shook her head and started creeping towards the next patch of grass, and Aloy followed suit. 

“Turn on your focus,” Aloy instructed. Amos did so and lit up. 

“Holy shit. I can see the weak spots in the Thunderjaw. Right down to the laser discs.”

“You can see certain things you wouldn't normally see with the naked eye. Opponents hiding in the trees, signals from other focuses or machines. You can even get to certain things in old ruins you wouldn't be able to get to normally.”

“That's amazing. How did I survive without-…uh oh.”

Aloy snapped her head up to see Carja patrolmen walking haphazardly on the road where the Thunderjaw was. Damn. Stupid. 

The Thunderjaw saw the men and charged at them, sending one flying towards Amos and Aloy. Erend had ran to the women, armed and ready to help. Amos had pulled the man away from the action. 

“He's alive. A couple of broken ribs and a leg,” Amos shouted. Amos unsheathed her lance, which struck Aloy as odd. A Nora usually treasured her spear and not even outcasts would discard their spears,but Amos seemed to use the lance as an extension of herself rather than a weapon. Aloy would have to ask why Amos chose such a weapon. 

Daeg had come up behind Amos, and he grabbed her and threw her towards the Thunderjaw. Upon landing, Amos slid under the Thunderjaw and impaled it with her lance. Before the machine could crush her, she had moved out from under it, with her lance behind her. 

Aloy started shooting her tearblast arrows at the disc launchers to disarm the machine before it could launch them. 

All of a sudden it started shooting discs at rapid speed. It was frenzied. Amos took cover under the cliff as Aloy ran up to meet her. Erend had jumped down to dodge the discs, swatting at his sleeve to put out the flame where a disc exploded a little too close to him. 

“Shit that Thunderjaw is pissed.” Erend panted. 

Amos was looking up above, watching the tail swing above them, studying it. Suddenly, Aloy heard a yell and saw Daeg fly off the ledge. He rolled to buffer the fall, but he looked rather disheveled. It would have been funny if this machine wasn't trying to kill them. 

Amos motioned for Daeg to meet them. 

“See that tail?”

“Yeah,” said Daeg breathlessly. 

“Boost me up. I'm gonna catch it.”

“ARE YOU CRAZY?” Erend yelled. 

“Yes, but that's not the point.”

Daeg, without a word, took his hands on his knees to prop Amos up. Amos stepped to boost and in a split second Amos was gone. Aloy ran back to look at where she was, and Amos was launched in the air, set to land right on the machine’s back. 

Amos caught a plate on the Thunderjaw’s back, and climbed up to its head. The machine was thrashing to throw her off, but Amos held steady as she plunged her lance into the head. 

The machine fell at that moment, and Aloy felt a twinge of jealously at Amos’s prowess. Amos slid off the dead machine, and adrenaline was wearing down on her face. 

Daeg whooped as he started to scrap at the carcass while Erend was tending to the guards. 

“You are insane. I would've never thought to do that,” Aloy admitted. 

Amos shrugged and shook her head. “Maybe that's a good thing. It was kind of stupid.”

“It was a good solution to the situation we were in.”

“DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY LESS STUPID,” shouted Erend as he lifted an unconscious guard over his shoulder. “We should head back and get these men to a healer.”

Aloy nodded as the group started towards the nearest village. 

After today, she had a newfound respect for Amos. She wasn't just talk. She could count on her to watch Erend’s back. 

………

“I'd have to admit. I've never seen anyone launch themselves on a machine’s back,” said Erend. He looked over his beer to Amos while she was fiddling with the Thunderjaw eye. 

“Me either. I just figured it was worth a shot.”

“Weren't you busting on Aloy for being to foolhardy?”

Amos looked up sheepishly, “Yeaaaaah, I did, didn't I?”

Erend laughed, shaking his head at the mercenary. 

“I’ve only see Nora actually fight like that. Is that where you are from?”

“Yep. Born and raised. Hated every minute of it. I learned a few things there though.”

Erend looked at her with a curious expression on his face. 

“It's not everyday that Nora go past their border to wander? Are you an outcast?”

“Worse. I'm considered one of the Forgotten. I left the Nora land, broke taboo, and now All-Mother has wiped me from her eternal memory.”

“You weren't allowed to be a seeker?”

“No. I didn't get permission like Varl, Teb, and Aloy did.” 

“So why did you leave? You had so much to lose it seems.”

Amos looked up for a second and laughed. 

“I wouldn't say I had much to lose. I wasn't an outcast when I was growing up, but I felt like one. I wasn't accepted by a lot of people due to the circumstances of my birth.”

Erend leaned forward, his curiosity taking over. 

“You didn't have a mother?”

“No. My mother was an outcast when I was born. She was allowed in because I was born. Being a mother is the greatest blessing All-Mother can give you. If you are given this gift, all your crimes are forgiven. They let her back in, but it didn't sit right with some people.”

“What about your father?”

Amos shrugged. “Never knew him.”

Erend sat back, rubbing his chin. This girl was interesting. Maybe there was a chance that Aloy and Amos could be related somehow. Maybe they had the same father, but Aloy’s mother died, making Aloy the outcast, not Amos. He didn't know Aloy’s full story with her mother, he just knew she was dead for sure, but he never pressed for the story. 

Still, they both looked so alike that his theory couldn't have been too much of a reach. 

“What are you staring at?”

Erend snapped back to attention, realizing he had spaced out. 

“Nothing. Just thinking. “

“Don't think too hard. I smell something cooking.”

“Ha ha ha. Very funny,” Erend mocked. 

Erend had to figure this girl out. It made him actually look forward to traveling with her. He could actually piece things together on why this girl was so guarded. 

Maybe he could figure himself out too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love a good action sequence. 
> 
> Btw, if you guys want to give me advice, please do. I am not exactly an experienced writer.


	11. The Claim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erend and Amos go to The Claim to look for Kavir. They also get a little closer than anticipated. 
> 
> FIRST SMUT CHAPTER

Amos hated the cold. It was one of the reasons she liked to stay in Meridian. The warm sun on her body, warming her skin, darkening it slightly. On her down time, she loved to lay in the grass in the maizelands, soaking in the warmth, falling asleep. No one would bother her. For a couple of hours, she would just get lost in her fantasies of a quiet life, until Daeg would spray her with water, that is. 

This land was cold. As she road on the Broadhead that Aloy got her, she would shiver from time to time, and there was a perpetual scowl on her face. She could feel Erend’s eyes boring a hole into her skull. It wasn’t glaring like it was two weeks ago, but concern. 

“Oi, it burns!” Amos yelled towards Erend as she snapped her head around to look at him, watching him jump from surprise. Erend sucked his head down sheepishly, knowing that he had been caught staring at her. “I thought you looked like you were about to freeze to death,” he replied back. Amos shrugged, and pulled her fur up closer around her ears. “I’m not supposed to be in cold temperatures. Another reason why I left the Sacred Lands,” she answered. 

Erend steered his Broadhead towards her to ride along side for better conversation. “You don’t ever call it home. You are always so...technical when you talk about your tribe,” he observed. 

“It’s not my tribe.” Amos saw Erend shiver at the coldness in her voice. “I’ve already told you that the Nora treated my friends and I badly for being different.” Erend shrugged. “I’ve just seen that you are a warmer person than you let on, so I figured that some part of you would thought it was home.” Amos shook her head at him. 

“All the warmth I felt towards those people died when Kavir butchered her.” Amos could feel Erend’s eyes peering at the side of her head, looking for an opening. She turned to him and smiled. “I’m sure you’re excited to go home, eh?” She asked him. Erend shook his head. “Not really, I have nothing really to go home to.” Amos looked at him thoughtfully. “I can relate.”

She felt her Broadhead shift and move, offsetting her just a little bit. This was so foreign, riding a machine instead of killing it for parts. “When my mother died, there was nothing left keeping me from leaving the Nora. Being considered forgotten by All-Mother didn’t scare me because I felt forgotten anyway. I haven’t been back in years and I don’t really care to go back.”

Erend nodded in understanding. “My mother died when I was young and my father was a drunk. My older sister looked after me, but when she died, we were already settled in Meridian, and she was all that really connected me to the Claim in the first place. I serve my king, and I call Meridian my home.”

Amos felt Erend’s eyes on her, like he was looking at her with pity. “What?” She snapped. Erend looked down. “Sorry” he apologized, “I figured you weren’t in the same boat and had nowhere to call home.” 

Amos cut a look at Erend. “Just because I don’t call a place home doesn’t mean I don’t have one. Daeg is my home. We have each other.”

“I get it. Is he your mate?”

Amos burst out laughing. Erend blushed and looked at her in surprise. “What!”

“Daeg isn’t my mate. I’m not his type.” 

“Oh! What do you mean?”  
“I don’t have a dick.”

Amos grinned as she looked at Erend as the embarrassment washed over him. 

“I get it. Colin, one of the vanguard back in Meridian is gay.”

Amos laughed again, shaking her head. “Nora doesn’t like it when you can’t or won’t knock a woman up.”

Erend shrugged and shook his head. “He would’ve had a better time in the Claim. No one would’ve cared.”

Amos smiled warmly at him, feeling the warmth from his friendliness comforting against the bitter cold. “Your motherland doesn’t sound so bad then. You should show me around.”

.......................

Mainspring was huge. Not as big as Meridian, but much bigger than the village Amos grew up in. There were massive lodges and forges that dwarfed the lodge in Mother’s heart. Amos looked around as the people in the city stood agape at the site of the envoy riding on he Broadheads. Erend took the lead to direct the group to the center lodge in the city. 

Mainspring smelled of soot and coal. Meridian was bright and beautiful while Mainspring was twice as noisy with the hammering of steel and darker because of the damp weather and smog. Yet people were just as cheerful and social, something that Amos smiled at. She may have been a wanderer but she enjoyed watching people come together and socialize as a community. 

As they approached the lodge and dismounted their steeds, Erend walked up to Amos. 

“Let me do the talking. The Oseram aren’t very friendly to outsiders.”

“Well, I can be cordial if I need be.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about.”

Amos nodded in agreement, letting him take the lead. As they entered the lodge, the Ealdormen were gathered around a round table, arguing amongst one another about, well, about the best way to go about killing Thunderjaws. They stopped, however, to acknowledge the envoy who had just walked in. 

“Erend! You are all very late. You are cutting into time that can be spent somewhere else,” a large, stout Ealdormen bellowed. Most of the Ealdormen were drunk and slobbery, and Amos could smell the ale from a mile away. Amos grimaced and stepped forward, only to stop when Erend put his arm in front of her. 

“My apologies. The weather was a lot fiercer than we anticipated,” Erend replied. Amos was shocked about the certain amount of diplomacy he was capable of. She just would have ripped their heads off. She would deny she had a short temper and little patience. 

The fat Ealdormen snorted and laughed. Amos thought he looked disgusting and wondered how someone that sloppy could lead a clan. 

“What is the meaning of this visit? You know we only meet in truly desperate times,” said a woman Ealdormen. She was taller than Amos, with long black hair, and was leaner than most Oseram women Amos had met. She demanded respect just by simply walking into the room, Amos could tell. She was a little jealous. 

“We are looking for a dangerous man from the Shadow Carja, and we have reason to believe he may be or have been here. If he is here, you may be in danger,” Amos interjected. 

“Impossible! If there was Carja in the Claim, we would know,” a younger Ealdormen exclaimed. 

“Unfortunately, no. This man is incredibly clever, borderline genius. He may have Oseram in his side that have smuggled him in.”

All of the Ealdormen were scowling at Amos at this point, and she couldn’t tell whether because she was talking too much, or she accused one of them of being a traitor. The woman Ealdormen stood up to speak, directly to Erend of course. 

“The only way to resolve this issue is to take action, like Oseram. We don’t sit talking like the Carja. I will send out scouts to explore my territory for any trace of unwelcome Carja. I urge the others to do the same. “

“Do you know his name or what he looks like?” asked the sloppy Ealdormen. 

Amos stepped forward. 

“His name is Kavir, and you will know him by the large scar across his face that I gave him.”

Amos saw Erend smirk out of the corner of her eye. The Ealdormen looked impressed. 

“Give us a few days to come back with a report. We suggest you make yourself comfortable in our inns and rest up. If he is here, you’ll need it,” the woman said. 

Erend and Amos nodded and walked out of the lodge. 

“So you gave him a scar huh? I’m impressed.”

“You shouldn’t be. You should know by now how pissy I get when it comes to Kavir.”

“You should tell me the story sometime.”

Amos smirked. “I’ll tell you at the inn over drinks.”

“I won’t object to that.”

 

..................................

Amos was on her third mug and barely phased. Erend was impressed. He wasn’t used to someone threatening to out drink him. He was on his fifth, and he was feeling a bit lusty towards her. This hadn’t been the first time. She had asked him to drink with him the night before the group set out to the claim. Her cool demeanor turned to cockiness when she was drunk, and he wasn’t going to lie that he had to take a cold shower just from being around her. She had this aura about her that was magnetic and intoxicating.  
Aloy was blunt and direct, but Amos had a smooth, silver tongue that made you question the stories she told but believe them all the same. The smirk on her full lips, the twinkle in her eye when she was mischievous, the curve of her body when she walked with a bit of a swagger made the blood rush from his head that night. He had to awkwardly sit still for most of that night. 

“Erend, are you even listening to me?”

Erend snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to Amos. She was smiling and laughing at him. Erend could feel his cheeks getting red and hot. 

“Sorry. I zoned out. “

“Yeah, I can tell your mind is on other things. So much for me telling you that story.” Amos grinned oh so slightly at him, as if to let him know his lustful thoughts didn’t get past her. 

“Maybe we should turn in for the night and leave this story later” Erend said. Amos nodded, threw some shards on the table and stood up. “After you,” Amos gestured to the stairs to their room. There wasn’t enough rooms for the convoy to have separate accommodations, so people had to pair up. Of course the vanguards with Erend made it to where Amos would share a room with him. They knew how he looked at her the entire trip here, and they knew how Amos was. Dirty bastards. 

Erend heard Amos walk up the stairs behind him as he was opening the door. Then he froze. 

“Are you going to walk in, or do I have to help you?”

Erend turned to her, and he could hear nothing but the heart beat in his chest. He didn’t know why he was nervous at the possibility with her, he had been with multiple women, but she was seductive just standing there. Did she know she was? Of course she did. Erend was really trying to hold himself together. “Are you okay sleeping in the same room with me?” He asked. 

Amos smiled and walked up to him, with her face merely inches from his. She smelled of sandalwood and salvebrush. Earthy, but sweet. “Do you want to fuck me Erend?” She asked with a tone laced with honey. Erend swallowed. “You wouldn’t hesitate if you didn’t”. Her sea green eyes locked with his as she simply brushed her lips with his as if to tease him. 

That was enough for him. He grabbed her waist and rolled his hips on hers just to let her know he was playing her game too. She gasped with surprised please as he kissed her as hard as he could without hurting her. Of course, he didn’t think she would mind. He has the feeling she liked it rough. 

He pulled her into the room without breaking their kiss and slammed the door shut. She broke their kiss and pushed him on the bed, removing her armor in the process. Erend forgot himself and gawked at her body as she stripped to her underwear. She was ripped. Fire and spit, her ass. Her breasts. Her body. It was amazing. 

“Am I the only one stripping here?” 

Erend snapped out of it again and starting removing his clothes. As he was stripping, he glance at the mile long scar stretched diagonally across her abdomen. She caught him looking and shrugged. “Same story” as she walked towards him. He had managed to strip to just his pants when she straddled him, only wearing her underwear. 

“You have to work a little bit to see the rest” she whispered in his ear as her hands moved across his muscled torso. Erend shuddered at her breath as it tickled his neck. He grabbed her ass, gave it a hard squeeze, making sure it hurt a bit as she moaned in his ear. He took one hand and pulled her hair back, as he moved his lips to the base of her neck and sucked at it as hard as he could. She gasped and rolled her hips, grinding on his already hard cock. Erend had to stop himself from bucking back and moaning. He was not about to lose this yet. 

“I didn’t say you could do that,” Erend said as he took his other hand and smacked her ass firmly. 

Of course, as he thought, Amos loved to fight with people in bed as much as she did in bars. She shoved her hand down his pants, grabbing his dick and started to stroke him, making it hard for him to hold back a groan. She then kissed him, their tongues playing with each other, before she continued to jerk him off. She then bit down on his bottom lip, drawing a little bit of blood. 

“I’m sorry Erend. I was given the impression that you wanted to fuck me,” Amos teased. 

Erend flipped the two of them over, practically tossing her on her back, and he turned his attention to her breasts, kneading one with one hand and his mouth on the other. He jerked off her underwear, almost ripping it and plunged one finger into her entrance. Amos’s back arched off the bed as she started to moan, very loudly at that. Erend proceeded to pump his finger in her fast, adding another one, and curling them as he went out. Taking his thumb, he started massaging her clit as she began moaning even louder, getting wetter by the second. 

After his mouth was done attending to her other breast, he moved up to kiss her, with every intention of letting his fingers making her cum. However, Amos grabbed his hand to stop him, and she flipped him on his back, taking him by surprise. She position herself above his face as he smiled, pulling her down to take her in his mouth. Amos grabbed the headboard, and began rolling her hips, riding his face as he attended to her mound with his tongue. As Amos began to move faster, getting closer to her climax, Erend was enjoying the fact that he was doing this to her. His hands on her ass, eating her pussy while she was moaning and screaming her lungs out. 

Amos stopped, confusing Erend. “Are you okay?” Amos smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just stopped. Don’t want to cum without feeling you inside me.” 

“Say no more.” Erend flipped Amos over on her stomach, as she angled herself at him. Putting his right hand on the small of her back, he angled himself at her entrance, and pushed himself in. Amos arched her back, moaning as she pushed her ass further towards him, making him go deeper. Erend finally let out a groan, and began to thrust, maintaining a fast and brutal rhythm. The room filled with their sounds. Erend was sure they were waking the others up. He never expect Amos to be a screamer. This was a sight for sure. Amos’s head on a pillow, her hands gripping the sheets, ass in the air while he was balls deep in her going at such a pace that was sure to make anyone dizzy. Profanities stringing the air. 

“Fuck...Erend. I’m gonna cum...oh god...oh fuck.”

Amos’s back arched further as her walls clenched around him, making his head spin as he went deeper in her than he thought he could. Erend’s cock twitched as he burst in her, filling her. Ear piercing groans and screams filled the air as they both rode out their orgasms as long as they could. 

Erend pulled out, his cock throbbing as Amos flipped herself on her back once more. Her hair was a mess, lips swollen, legs shaking. He collapsed on his stomach beside her, listening to them both pant. 

“Holy fuck,” Erend sighed out as Amos laughed. Erend felt Amos lay on his back, as she started playing with his mohawk and kissing his shoulders and neck. 

“We could probably go again a couple of times and still get plenty of sleep,” said Amos. Erend grinned and rolled over, placing Amos on her back again. Erend kissed her, with a smile playing on both their lips. 

“Well, let’s not waste any time then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it for the first smut chapter?
> 
> I know this chapter was a long time coming. Writer’s block and limbo is terrible. I’ll try to keep up I swear. 
> 
> Also, is there anyone who is more talented than me that could maybe draw the OC’s for me? I will of course give you credit and compensate for your time if you wish.


	12. Hypothesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amos’s discovery sets Aloy down a rabbit hole.

Aloy stared through her focus, looking for any trails of the abandoned Carja camp that was left in the Embrace. 

“I can’t believe that these Carja got in without any detection,” Varl grumbled. He continued to mumble about how the border patrol needed more training. 

“They certainly weren’t subtle, that’s for sure,” Aloy replied. The camp was at the cauldron, which had all but been picked clean. All that was left was the cauldron core, which was busy repairing what Kavir’s men picked off. The focus beeped, scanning footprints left from the camp. “There,” Aloy shouted, calling Varl and Teb to attention, “Someone left, and they left in a hurry.” The three of them picked up the pace as Aloy led them to follow the trail. 

Of course, it was a complete dead end. Aloy kicked a nearby log in frustration. 

“ARRGGH!!!!!” She screamed, “This is the fifth lead we’ve followed. Fuck!”

Of course Varl and Teb cowered a bit at Aloy’s anger. Aloy shot them a look. 

“Don’t be so dramatic. I’m just annoyed.”

Varl shrugged and shook his head. “These guys are like ghosts. They are probably long gone.”

“Which brings me to the question: why were they here in the first place?” Teb asked. 

“That’s a good question. What was here that they needed? What was in that cauldron that they found?” Aloy speculated. 

“Aloy. Aloy! Earth to Aloy! Is this goddamn thing even working.”

Aloy snapped her head up and touched her focus to receive the call. Amos appeared in front of her. 

“Amos! Did you find anything in the Claim?”

“Yes and no. We found abandoned camps and two cauldrons located in the Claim picked clean.”

“Please tell me they left the cores. The machines still have to be made.” 

“From what I could tell they just took various weapons and components to make them.”

Aloy sighed in relief. “Good.”

“One more thing.”

“What?” Aloy said anxiously. 

“We found an old ruin that we thought Kavir and his goons may have gone into to. Something strange happened.”

“Define strange.” 

“One of the doors scanned me and called me Dr. Sobeck.”

“Wh-what?”

“Do you know anything about that?”

“A little bit. I need you guys to leave once you’re done and reach the Embrace.”

“Aloy. They won’t let me in. Why can’t you met us in Meridian?”

“Because I need to go into All-Mother mountain and get some answers. And it sounds like you need to come with me.” 

Aloy heard an hour long groan come from Amos’s mouth. “FINE. Erend and I will go over there, but they won’t let me in. They’ll kill me on sight.”

“Trust me. They’ll let you in.”

“Give us three days.”

“See you in three then.”

Aloy tapped her focus to disconnect. Varl walked towards her, puzzled. 

“What did she say?” 

Aloy looked at the ground in disbelief. “They didn’t find Kavir, but he was there?”

“Anything else? It seems like there was something else.”

Aloy looked up at Varl with the same stunned look on her face. 

“Aloy. You can tell me.”

“I think Amos and I have the same mother.”

..........................

Aloy picked at her boar meat, lost in thought. Varl pokes her with his fork, breaking her concentration. 

“What?” Aloy snapped. 

Varl laughed, “I said if Amos can come home, Teersa will be overjoyed.”

Aloy cocked her head to the side in confusion. “I thought people hated Amos around here.”

“Most don’t like her, no. Teersa thought of her as a granddaughter. When we were kids, she was the only that could calm Amos down out of her fits. If I’m not mistakes, Teersa chose her name specifically. After one of her daughters that died fighting.”

“Yes. You would be correct.” Aloy jumped out of her skin nearly. Teersa had that habit of sneaking up on her.   
Teersa took a seat on the bench next to Aloy. “Amos means brave. She wore that name well.”

“She still wears it well,” Aloy replied, thinking back to the Thunderjaw fight. 

Teresa’s face lit up. “Do you mean that you have seen her. She is alive after all these years?”

“Yes. In fact she’s on her way to help us find Kavir or figure out what he is doing.” 

Teersa’s face shone with tears as she clapped her hands together with relief. “I was afraid Kavir would have killed her. I heard she had been captured by his men. I feared the worst.”

Aloy thought about how Amos described Kavir’s sadism. It would make sense that she experienced it first hand. “She’s okay.”

Varl nodded. “She’s the same person basically. Maybe a little bit more even-tempered.”

“Praise All-Mother!” Teersa exclaimed. “When will she be here? I will send word to the towers to allow her passage.”

“Erend will be with her, but they should be here within the day.”

“I will send word at once!” Teersa walked away with a bit more pick up to her step. 

Varl beamed. “You just made her life. It was not a question on who her favorite person was. I think she favored Amos even more than her own grandchildren.”

Aloy shrugged and laughed. “I live to please.”

...............................

Amos shrunk as she approached the gate to the Embrace. She half expected a hail of arrows to impale her as she got within 50 feet, but now she was at the gate with Erend, and they were even opening it for her. One of the guards looked at her with recognition, but he didn’t scowl at her. That surprised her. She was used to so many scowls. 

Erend must have sensed her discomfort because he clapped her hand on her shoulder. “Aloy made sure all outcasts were forgiven after the Battle at the Spire.”

Amos chuckled to herself. “I guess that’s what being friends with the perceived anointed one gets you.”

The two of them rode to Mother’s Watch together on their machines. They had sent back the convoy to relay the information back to Avad. 

Amos was nervous. Aloy had told her that Teersa was excited to hear she was alive and sort of well. She loved Teersa like a grandmother, but Teersa had a tendency to smother her. 

As they approached the gate, Amos could see Aloy at the gate ready to meet them. Amos’s mile long groan escaped her mouth as she saw Teersa and Jezza with her. Erend started laughing at her. “Oh come on. I wish I had this much a welcome when I came home.” 

Amos snarled at him. “I have no problem trading with you.”

Amos dismounted her steed with Erend following closely behind her. She barely reached the entrance to the village when she was looked at mounds of beads with Teersa hugging her straight into her bosom. 

“All-mother be praised! You are alive! I have been blessed.” Teersa cried while Amos welcomed sweet sweet death by suffocation. 

“Mmmmmhhhhhhmmmmm” Amos replied, praying that she was dying. Teersa released her, only for Jezza to take her into her embrace as well. “All-Mother welcomes you back into her arms child. You have been forgiven.”

“Mhmmpphhfffmmp” Amos muttered back. Jezza stank a bit more than she remembered. Old lady smell. 

As she was released, Amos caught a glimpse of Aloy and Erend holding back their laughs. Amos mouthed words of imminent death towards them as she was usher into the village. Sona was there to welcome her as well, but Amos thanked the Sun she was not a hugger. 

“It seems that all that I have taught you has kept you alive.” Sona stood at Amos with such intensity, Amos was almost intimidated. “Barely. I had to learn other things.”

“I doubt it. You just forgot how to be smarter than your enemy.”

Amos laughed and shrugged. “That’s why I’m here now.”

“And now we have to meet at the mountain.” Aloy said coming up behind Amos. 

Amos gave a side-eye to Aloy. “Are you serious? Only Matriarchs are allowed in.”

Aloy grinned at her. “I have permission as well. And I have asked for a special exception for you. They granted it for you just before you arrived.”

Amos gawked at her. Who was this girl? Why did they call her the Anointed again?

“Follow me Amos. I have to test a theory of mine.” 

“What theory?”

“That we have the same mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the plot for now but don’t fret my duckies, I will get to Aloy and Varl.

**Author's Note:**

> Be patient with me, this is my first time ;)
> 
> Comment please!
> 
> Building plot so this is going to be a long ride ;)


End file.
